Senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Geneva have made progress toward a possible agreement on Washington's proposed peace plan, U.S. and Ukrainian officials said.
Why it matters: Diplomacy over the plan has accelerated since Axios revealed it Tuesday. President Trump has set a Thanksgiving deadline for reaching an understanding with Ukraine.
Catch up quick: Trump's 28-point peace plan would force Kyiv to give up additional territory in the east, agree it will never join NATO and accept full amnesty for Russians accused of war crimes.
- On the other hand, the plan includes an unprecedented security guarantee from the U.S. and Europe modeled on NATO's Article 5, which would commit allies to treat an attack on Ukraine as an attack on the entire "transatlantic community."
Driving the news: Secretary of State Rubio, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Trump's son in law and adviser Jared Kushner have been meeting since Sunday morning with Ukraine's delegation at the U.S. mission in Geneva, a U.S. official directly involved in the talks said.
- After several hours of negotiations Rubio and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff Andriy Yermak gave short statements expressing satisfaction with the progress in the talks.
- "We have had probably the most productive and meaningful meeting so far," Rubio said but stressed there is more work to do.
- Yermak also said it was a "very productive session with very good progress."
What's next: Rubio and Yermak said the talks will continue in Geneva on Sunday and stressed "the final word" will rest with President Trump and President Zelensky.
Behind the scenes: Two sources with knowledge of the talks said the upbeat statements by Rubio and Yermak came several hours after a tense meeting Sunday morning.
- During the meeting, the American side accused the Ukrainians of leaking negative details about the plan in the U.S. press. The Ukrainians agreed to issue a positive statement by one of their negotiators in order to clear the air, a source said.
- Later in the day, the Ukrainian side presented a counterproposal with requests for changes to Trump's plan, a source with knowledge of the talks said.
- The source said the U.S. expressed willingness to make some changes based on the Ukrainian counterproposal.
What they're saying: On Sunday as the talks were taking place, President Trump accused the Ukrainian leadership of being ungrateful for his efforts to end the war.
- In an angry post on his Truth Social account President Trump criticized Zelensky and said that "with strong and proper U.S. and Ukrainian LEADERSHIP" the war wouldn't have happened.
- "I INHERITED A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, A WAR THAT IS A LOSER FOR EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY THE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE THAT HAVE SO NEEDLESSLY DIED. UKRAINE 'LEADERSHIP' HAS EXPRESSED ZERO GRATITUDE FOR OUR EFFORTS, AND EUROPE CONTINUES TO BUY OIL FROM RUSSIA. THE USA CONTINUES TO SELL MASSIVE $AMOUNTS OF WEAPONS TO NATO, FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UKRAINE," Trump wrote.
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on his X account that his delegation in Geneva is focused on finding "doable solutions" to end the war.
- "Currently, there is an understanding that the American proposals may include a number of elements based on Ukrainian perspectives and critical for Ukrainian national interests. Further work is ongoing to make all elements truly effective," he wrote.
